The team, which no one believed capable of anything, is about to achieve a historic triumph
Status: 2:47 p.m
World Cup semi-finals and Olympic ticket booked – Germany is now reaching for the medal
After reaching the semi-finals at the Ice Hockey World Championships and qualifying for the Olympics, the focus of the German team is already on the next tasks. For captain Moritz Müller, the success is already a “career highlight”.
Germany is in the semi-finals of the Ice Hockey World Championship. A completely unexpected performance after 15 injury-related cancellations before the tournament. Now a 70-year dry spell is about to end.
FThe German national ice hockey team went back to Tampere, Finland, after reaching the World Cup semi-finals again on Friday morning. At 10:00 a.m. German time, the team headed by national coach Harold Kreis flew to Riga, where it was 3-1 (1-0, 2: 1, 0:0) after a strong performance against the favored Swiss. “I’m just proud. What the team did was outstanding,” said the best German World Cup player to date, NHL attacker Nico Sturm.
At the weekend, the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation has the opportunity to win the first World Cup medal in 70 years for the third time after 2010 and 2021. “Then it’s about time again,” said national coach Harold Kreis. In 2010 and 2021, Germany defeated its arch-rival from Switzerland in the quarter-finals and ended up fourth in the World Cup.
The decisive goal in the preliminary round duel: The American Matt Coronato (r.) scores the 3:2
Quelle: Newspaper photo via REUTERS
“It’s great for us to have another chance. I think we’re going into the game with a lot of vigor and want to get something this time,” said captain Moritz Müller before the semifinals on Saturday against the USA (5:20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport). The Germans had already played the preliminary round against the Americans and, after leading 2:1, lost just under 2:3.
“We just have to play like we did against Switzerland. With heart and soul, with passion and everyone simply for everyone,” said NHL forward John-Jason Peterka. The second semi-final is contested by record world champions Canada and Latvia, who surprisingly eliminated Sweden. The game for third place and the final are already on Sunday.
Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany
For the new national coach Kreis as the successor to Toni Söderholm, his first World Cup as head coach is already a great success. Targets set by the DEB Presidium for this World Cup were reaching the quarter-finals and direct qualification for the Olympic Winter Games in Milan 2026. This has also now been achieved after the quarter-final victory against Switzerland.
“I’m in incredibly good hands with this team. I’m not worried The performance is right, the effort is right. There’s nothing I have to get upset about,” Kreis said of his team, which, given 15 injury-related cancellations before the World Cup, hardly anyone believed capable of anything. The NHL stars Leon Draisaitl, Philipp Grubauer and Tim Stützle are also missing.
On Friday there was another happy customer for the DEB. Ten years after the tournament in Cologne and Paris, Germany will again host an ice hockey world championship in May 2027. In the voting on Friday in Tampere, the decision was clearly in favor of the German application with the venues Mannheim and Düsseldorf. 102 and thus 75 percent of the votes went to the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), only 34 and thus 25 percent to Kazakhstan as the only competitor. “This is a milestone for DEB,” said DEB President Peter Merten.
